St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-19
THE SPIRIT OF BEECHER.
Ii 1t Can Have No Influence in
Plymouth Church There Must
BE Dissolution.

Ii 1t Can Have No Influence in
Plymouth Church There Must
BE Dissolution.
Special to the Globe.
NEW YORK, June 1S.-Plymouth
church will be shut for the summer. No
such thing ever happened to it before.
There are those who predict that it will
not be opened again by its old congrega-
ton. 1t is entering upon the severest
crisis of its existence. Beecher is no
longer the magnet that has so long held
it together. Several months before his
death Beecher said to warm personal
friend: IF Gods lightning, were to
strike any church in this land at this
moment and destroy it, l should wish
that it might be Plymouth church,"
With no mock modesty the great
preacher recognized that the
Conference of the organization was
due to himself, and he dreaded
to think what might become
of it in case of his death. Those who
for years have been accustomed to re-
ceive willingly Beecher's broad and adj
vanced views of theology are DESTROYS
that the church should continue to rep
resent the liberal spirit of his teachings.
How to obtain this desideratum is the
question upon which the members
divide. There is strong faction of the
society that believes it necessary to call
new preacher at once, in order that
interest in the services may be kept
alive by the presence of a regular
preacher in the pulpit. Another fac
ton thinks it just as well to let the
usual summer vacation take its course
and to open the next ecclesiastical year
under a new leader. This difference of
opinion will be aggravated when it is re-
duced to choice between individuals.
Everybody interested fears that when
the successor of Beecher appears and
begins to preach the people will
feel sense of disappointment that will
speedily disrupt the organization. EX-
taught, and, even if the successor should
happen to think in the same groove in
which Beecher'S convictions ran, he will
not express himSelfin the same way and
the difference will still be felt keenly.
One of the Old members of the congre-
CATION said to your correspondent to-day:
The situation is diScouraging. 1t
seems to me that our only safety lies in
starting out on new lines. AS it will be
impossible exactly to fill Beecher's
place, we must have new interest to at
lldCt Jul dltcHllOi dllu uGW UTdltS
to admire in our pastor. Beecher
was a splendid pulpiteer; his
equal cannot be fsund Why,
then, try to? 1t would be better to find
a man whose strength shall lie in his
pastoral work, in which department Mr.
Beecher was VIGOROUSLY deficient. But
others do not agree with me. There are
many who think we ought to secure a
brilliant orator at once, a metorician.
They hope to see some young man of
pronounced ability arise who will not
only inculcate the doctrines to which
we have become used, but do so in a
thrilling, original style. A hopeless
idea. Plymouth church was built up
during a fighting period. The anti
slavery agitation and the war gave Mr..
Beecher every incentive for the exer-
else of his strongest and most brilliant
faculties. If young man appears who
attempts to take similar course it will
be with the result of gradually estrang-
ing most of the old members and Great
ing a new society, if he succeeds in OBJ
tanning following.